Automobile heater



Q. G. NOBLITT AUTOMOBILE HEATER Filed Oct. 17, 1927 INVENTOR.

QU/NT/N G. N EL 7 BY g g 1 TORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 18, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE QUINTIN G'. NOIBLITT,OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO INDIANAPOLIS PUMP & TUBE COMPANY,OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION AUTOMOBILE HEATER t Thisinvention-relates to a heater construcion.

The chief object of this invention is to provide a heater constructionwhich is associated with an elongated conical muffler of an automobileand which heater is-adapted to supply heated air to a lurality of.compartments if and when desired:

The chief feature of the invention consists in the particularconstruction of the heater,

whereby air is heated by the exhaust gases passing thru the mufiier of aparticular shape and is subsequently supplied to one or morecompartments of a vehicle including the en- 1gline supplying the exhaustgases to the muf- The full nature of the invention will be understoodfrom the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims:In the drawings Fig. 1 is a central sectional view thru a portion of amotor vehicle with the engine, muflier, exhaust pipe, heater and supplyand discharge conduits thereto shown in elevation. Fig. 2 is an enlargedcentral section thru the heater, the muflier and exhaust pipe being.shown in elevation. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line3-3 of Fig. 2 and in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 4 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 2 and ofa modified form of the invention. Fig. 5 is atransverse sectional iew taken on line 55 of Fig. 4 and in the directionof the tured as at 24 and mounted therein is a regulating register 25(in the forward compartment and 26 in the rearward compartment). Aconduit 27 connects the forward compartment register 25 with the heater(indicated generally by the numeral 30) and the rearward compartmentregister 26 is connected by the conduit 28 to said heater. The heater 30includes an outlet or discharge 29 to which conduit .27 connects and adischarge 32 to which conduit 28 connects. An intake 31 is connected bya flexible conduit 33 to a flared mouth or funnel 34 which constitutesthe air intake and the conduit 33 extends upwardly so that said funnelor intake is positioned adjacent the radiator and is supplied withrelatively clean and fresh air.

In the resent form of the invention the heater casing 30 issubstantially conical and is herein shown comprised of a pair ofsemiconical sections, one section including the intake 31 at the forwardend and the other section including the discharge outlet 32 at therearward end and the discharge outlet 29 in the forward end. Herein theconical casing 30 is concentric and coaxial with the conical muffler 14.Conicalmuflier 14 has its intake head 13 substantially bell-shaped andits discharge portion 15 is also bell-shaped. Each end of the casing 30includes an inturned end for embracing the mufiler adjacent thebell-shaped head. Herein the forward end of the heater casing has thecentral opening 49, while the rear end of the casing includes thecentral opening 50. The two mating sections of the casing have abuttablelongitudinal flanges 33 and are maintained in conical relation by theencircling clamps 51 secured by the bolt and nuts 52, or if desired, amodified form of clamping arrangement may be employed such as shown inFigures 4 and 5 hereinafter described.

' Positioned substantially midway between the front and rear ends of theheater casing is a circular diifusing bafile or partition in the form ofa plate 43 having a suitable number of apertures 45 therein andcentrally apertured as at 46. Aperture 46 is sufficiently large to clearthe lower end of the muffler and the size of the aperture determines theposition that the partition plate assumes upon the muflier. It ismounted thereon by a drive fit. Partition plate includes the conicalflange 44 and said flange serves as a support midway between the ends ofthe casing and for the same. Suitably secured to the forward end of thecasing and herein the upper half thereof, are a pair of longitudinaldividing and deflecting partition plates 41 and secured to the casing bythe flange portions 42 (see Fig. 3). The air admitted through intake 31passes along the lower portion of the heater casing toward the baffle 43beneath the bafile 41 and since baflie 41 terminates ahead of baffle 43a part of the air passes upwardly and thence forwardly toward the frontendof the heater casing to discharge outwardly from discharge 29. Theremainder of the air (and the effective baffling area determines theproportion passing through the bafile), passes jrearwardly through theheater casing in surrounding relation to the mufller and outwardlythrough the discharge 32. Thus, the mufller is adapted to supply heatedair to the front and rear compartments 17 and 21, respectively andsubstantially air tight joints are obtained by the clampingconstructions employed. At least the leakage is of relatively minoramount.

The invention shown in Figs. 4 and 5 includes a frusto conical heatercasing 130 simfl ilar to heater casing 30 and in this form of theinvention the intermediate or transverse bafile is omitted. The intake131 is at one end of the heater casing and the discharge is a compounddischarge 129 and 132 which has a common opening 200 at the upper rearend of the heater. The two portions or sec tions of the conical heatercasing have longitudinal flanges 133 extended to constitute a butt jointand receive the clamping constructions in the form of bolts 137 and nuts138. The front and rear ends of the heater are closed upon the junctionof the muffler with its bell-shaped intake and outlet 13 and 15,respectively, said casing having the central aperture 149 at its forwardend and a similar aperture 150 at its rearward end.

The length of air passage through the heater casing in the form of theinvention shown in Figs. 4 and 5 is from the front end to the rear, orsubstantially the length of said casing. The air passing through opening200 is divided and passes through V the discharge outlet to the severalconduits.

The air passing into the heater casing in the form of the inventionshown in Figs. 2 and 3, by way of intake 31, passes to the partition 43and that part which passes therethrough passes outwardly through thedischarge 32 and thus the length of air passage is substantially thefull length of the heater casing. Similarly, that portion of the airwhich is deflected forwardly and upwardly and passes out of discharge 29also traverses a length of passage substantially equal to the fulllength of the casing.

In the type of heater having an outlet at either end as shown in Figs.1, 2 and 3 it is desirable that the air leaving the two outlets beheated to approximately the same temperature. It is, therefore,desirable that the air supplied to the two outlets pass over the heatingsurface at approximately the same velocity with the air to the outlet atthe hottest end of the mufller travelling at a slightly higher rate ofspeed. If the heater casing is made cylindrical, the area open to flowof gas to the rear outlet 32 is so much larger than that open to flow ofgas to the front outlet 29 that the air to the rear outlet travels at amuch slower rate than that to the front and is, therefore, heated to ahigher temperature. The provision of a conical heater casing reduces thearea of flow tothe rear outlet and hence tends'to equalize the rates offlow of air. The equalization of rates of flow is not complete howeversince the entire area within the casing is open to rearward flow whileonly the ,upper half is open to forward flow. Since the forward end ofthe mufiler receives the hot gases direct from the engine. it is heatedto a higher temperature than the rearward end and, therefore, tends toequalize the eflect of the unequal rates of ow. It has been found thatsubstantially equal discharge temperatures are obtained when the heatercasing substantially parallels the mufiier casing.

The invention claimed is:

1. In combination with a conical mufller, a heater casing surroundingthe same, an air inlet for said casing, and an air outlet at each end ofsaid casing, said casing being shaped with a smaller diameter adjacentthe smaller end of said muffler and having a substantially longitudinalpartition in the end thereof adjacent the larger end of said muflier forreducing the cross sectional area of the path of flow to the outlet atthat end whereby delivery of air at a substantially equal temperaturefrom both of said outlets is secured.

2. In combination with a conical muffler, a heater casing surroundingthe same, an air inlet for said casing, and an air outlet at each end ofsaid casing, said casing being conical in shape, coaxial with saidmufiier and having a substantially longitudinal partition in the endthereof adjacent the larger end of said mufller for reducing the crosssectional area of the path of flow to the outlet at that end wherebydelivery of air at a substantially equal temperature from both of saidoutlets is secured.

- 3. In combination with a muffler, a heater casing surrounding thesame, an air inlet for said casing, and an air outlet at each end ofsaid casing, said casing being shaped to provide a path of flow of lesscross section to the outlet at the hotter end of the mufiier' than tothe oulet at the cooler end of the mufiler, whereby delivery of air at asubstantially equal tem erature from both of said outlets is secured IIn witness whereof, I have.hereunto afiixed my signature.

- QUINTIN G. NOBLITT

